USAID’s Raising Voices, Creating Opportunities project aims to improve public attitude towards the rights of persons with disabilities and their access to transportation and health facilities in Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, and Quang Nam provinces. Persons with disabilities have limited information about the pandemic because they are often isolated and/or cannot read or hear the news. In addition, many persons with disabilities have extremely low paying jobs, such as selling lottery tickets. While the COVID-19 social distancing policy has protected the health of some persons with disabilities, it has also taken away their income. For these reasons, they are one of the most vulnerable groups during the pandemic. Hence, on April 16, USAID's Raising Voices, Creating Opportunities project and the Vietnamese Federation on Disabilities co-organized a virtual conference to map support for persons with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and organizations of persons with disabilities assessed the current situation and exchanged ideas on appropriate approaches to enable persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups to cope with challenges during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, ACDC (a disability rights advocacy organization) helped to provide sign language interpreters during TV news programs to help the Deaf in addition to providing hand sanitizers and food for persons with disabilities in rural and remote areas. The conference also created a forum to celebrate Vietnamese Disabilities Day (April 18) during this period of social distancing.
So What? Through innovative thinking and close collaboration, USAID and stakeholders in the disabilities sector are improving persons with disabilities’ access to information and developing approaches for them to overcome consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
